Ladle transport car



July 12, 1966 w. BLOUGH ETAL 3,260,22

LADLE TRANSPORT CAR Filed Oct. 15, 1964 2 Sheets-Sheet J.

INVENTORS. GLENN Ml. BLOUGH and JOHN H. FAUA/CE A r tarney July 12, 1966 G. w. BLOUGH ETAL 3,260,221

LADLE TRANSPORT CAR 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Oct. 15, 1964 INVENTORS.

GLENN W. BLOUGH 000' JOHN H. FAUIVCE By M M215.

Ar tar/ray United States Patent 3,260,221 LADLE TRANSPORT CAR Glenn W. Blough, Richland Township, Cambria County, and John H. Faunce, Westmont, Pa., assignors to United States Steel Corporation, a corporation of Delaware Filed Oct. 15, 1964, Ser. No. 404,001 3 Claims. (Cl. 105-148) This invention relates to apparatus for carrying iron ladles, particularly ladles for use in transporting molten metal in the making of steel.

The invention has for one of its objects to provide a compact ladle transport car for use in areas where low head room is available. With conventional transport cars, a ladle to be set on a car must first be brought to a position high above the seats that will support it, and then the ladle must be lowered onto these seats. The transport car that is the subject of this invention enables a ladle to be moved horizontally onto the seats which support it. The improved car is designed to ride on a pair of rails, and to carry the ladle which it supports suspended between the rails.

The many advantages of this ladle transport car will become more apparent from the following detailed description of the car and the attached drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a top plan view of a ladle transport car and hot metal ladle carried thereby;

FIGURE 2 is a side elevation of the ladle and transport car of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is an end elevation of the ladle and transport car of FIGURE 1 with parts broken away; and

FIGURE 4 is a side elevation of two ladles and transport cars at two dilferent stations along a supporting railway.

Referring more particularly to FIGURE 1, ladle transport car 2 includes two parallel legs 4 on either side, and a rear body portion 6 connected between these legs. The front or right-hand side of the transport car 2, as viewed in FIGURE 1, is left open so that the car is U-shaped as viewed from the top.

The rear body portion 6 of the car is made primarily of a rear cross beam 8, a vertical plate 10 in front of and parallel to the cross beam 8, a horizontal platform 12 and a top plate 14. The vertical placement of platform 12 and plate 14 may be seen best in FIGURE 2. The side legs 4 of the car are each made of two parallel vertical plates 16, shown in FIGURE 3 in dotted lines, a horizontal bottom base plate 17, and a top cover plate 18. The legs 4 are welded at their rear ends to the rear cross beam 8.

Rai-lcar wheels 19 are mounted on the bottom of base plate 17 of each leg 4. Each leg preferably has four wheels, spaced as shown in FIGURE 2. The wheels 19 travel on rails 20 which are mounted on parallel, spaced apart beams 21 (FIGURE 3). The space between the rails is open so that a ladle L may be carried therebetween.

Ladle seat members 24 are positioned between the rails 20 and extend partially below the rails. These seat members are welded to the legs 4 at the inwardly facing edges of top plate 18 and bottom plate 17. They are also secured to the rear body portion 6 by inserting tab portions 26 of vertical plate 10, shown in dotted lines in FIGURES 1, 2 and 3, through appropriate slots in the seat members 24. Above base plates 17 of legs 4 and between the seat memebrs 24 and legs 4 are welded brace plates 28 and 30, partially shown in FIGURE 2, and also in dotted lines in FIGURE 3. The tab portions 26 of vertical plate 10 are doweled to the brace plates 28. On the under side of base plates 17, brackets 32 and 34 are welded to the seat members 24 and base plates 17,

3,260,221 Patented July 12, 1966 Ice The seat members 24 have at their forward ends a pair of horizontal ladle seats 36 which are designed to support the ladle L on its downwardly facing lug surfaces R, adjacent the ladle trunnions T. The elevation of ladle seats 36, relative to the wheels 19 and rails 20, is such that the ladle L may be conveniently positioned to conform to the vertical clearances existing along the rails. It will be seen by looking at the end and side views of FIGURES 2 and 3 respectively that the ladle L extends both above and below the top and bottom edges, respec tively, of the transport car 2. Thus, the minimum vertical space through which the ladle L and transport car 2 will fit is dictated solely by the height of the ladle L and not by any dimension of the transport car 2.

The transport car 2 is made self propelled along rails 20 by a motor 40 and connected gear box 41 (FIGURE 3), which are mounted on appropriate platforms and support members in the rear body portion 6. Drive shafts 42 and couplings 43 connect the gear box 41 with the most rearward pair of railcar wheels 19.

The operation of the transport car 2 is illustrated in FIGURE 4. A ladle L, supported by crane hooks H, is set upon the transport car 2 by carrying it horizontally between beams 21 to a position over the ladle seats 36 of the transport car 2. The ladle L is kept at substantially the same height during the entire operation, since it need not be lifted above any platform or side member of the transport car.

When the ladle has been set down with its lug surfaces R resting on ladle seats 36 of transport car 2, the hooks H are removed from the trunnions T, and the ladle L carried by the transport car 2, powered by motor 40, along the rails 20. The car 2 and ladle L are moved to a pouring station such as the one at which ladle L and transport car 2' are located (FIGURE 4).

The motor 40 and associated drive may be omitted and the transport car and ladle moved along rails 20 by leaving the crane hooks H attached to the ladle trunnions T with the crane carriage pulling the ladle L and car 2 by means of the crane cables and hooks H.

When the ladle and transport car have been moved to the ladle pouring station on the right-hand side of FIG- URE 4, the ladle stopper rig S on ladle L may be operated to allow the molten metal to flow out of the orifice O in the bottom of the ladle. During this pouring there is no need to lift the ladle L from the ladle seats 36', since the construction of the transport car permits the ladle to be emptied while supported on the car. The open-ended U-shape design of the transport car assures unlimited clearance for the stopper rig S, so that there will be no interference with its operation.

While several embodiments of our invention have been shown and described it will be apparent that other adaptations and modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the following claims.

We claim:

1. Apparatus for carrying a hot metal ladle which has downwardly facing lug surfaces located on opposite sides thereof and trunnions mounted on said sides for engagement with an external lifting means, said appartus comprising car having a frame and wheels rotatably mounted on said frame for supporting said car on a track, said frame being U-shaped and having two spaced apart legs located in a common plane substantially parallel to the axes of rotation of said wheels and a rear body portion located between and connected to said legs, and a pair of spaced apart ladle seat members mounted on said frame and adapted to support said ladle on said lug surfaces, said seat members being spaced inwardly from 'said legs a suflicient distance to permit external lifting means to pass between said seat members and side legs when the ladle is positioned with its lug surfaces on said seat members.

2. Apparatus of claim 1 wherein the distance between the bottoms of said wheels and the highest part of said ear is less than the maximum -vertical dimension of said ladle, and said ladle seat members are positioned 'to suP- 10 port said ladle with the top thereof above the highest part of said car and the-bottom thereof below the bottoms of said wheels of said 'ca'r.

3. Apparatus of claim 1 including a motor mounted on said rear body portion of the car, and a mechanical drive between said motor and at least one of said wheels.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,926,804 3/1960 Fuhrmann et a1. 214-390 2,934,228 4/ 1960 Hillberg 214--39O 3,111,228 11/1963 Anderson d 212130 ARTHUR L. LA POINT, Primary Examiner.

B. FAUST, Assistant Examiner. 

1. APPARATUS FOR CARRYING A HOT METAL LADLE WHICH HAS DOWNWARDLY FACING LUG SURFACES LOCATED ON OPPOSITE SIDES THEREOF AND TRUNNIONS MOUNTED ON SAID SIDES FOR ENGAGEMENT WITH AN EXTERNAL LIFTING MEANS, SAID APPARATUS COMPRISING CAR HAVING A FRAME AND WHEELS ROTATABLY MOUNTED ON SAID FRAME FOR SUPPORTING SAID CAR ON A TRACK, SAID FRAME BEING U-SHAPED AND HAVING TWO SPACED APART LEGS LOCATED IN A COMMON PLANE SUBSTANTIALLY PARALLEL TO THE AXES OF ROTATION OF SAID WHEELS AND A REAR BODY PORTION LOCATED BETWEEN AND CONNECTED TO SAID LEGS, AND A PAIR OF SPACED APART LADLE SEAT MEMBERS MOUNTED ON SAID FRAME AND ADAPTED TO SUPPORT SAID LADLE ON SAID LUG SURFACES, SAID SEAT MEMBERS BEING SPACED INWARDLY FROM SAID LEGS A SUFFICIENT DISTANCE TO PERMIT EXTERNAL LIFTING MENS TO PASS BETWEEN SAID SEAT MEMBERS AND SIDE LEGS MEANS TO LADLE IS POSITIONED WITH ITS LUG SURFACES ON SAID SEAT MEMBERS. 